An angry Indian men’s hockey team coach Graham Reid has criticized his players for their poor performance in the final of the Commonwealth Games, saying they lack the energy and application required to beat the mighty Australia.
In one of his worst performances in recent times, India It suffered an embarrassing 0-7 loss at the hands of the defending champions to settle for the silver medal.
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Australia blew away India with their whirlwind pace and relentless attacks, increasing their dominance in the CWG stage, claiming their seventh straight gold.
Reid said after the match, ‘There is such a thing called energy and I don’t think we had that today.
“It can happen sometimes when you play for Australia. But I am disappointed that we did not play well. We let ourselves down and we didn’t do the things we talked about. It’s disappointing.”
Thus, India lost to Australia for the third time in the CWG final after New Delhi 2010 and Glasgow 2014.
The thumping defeat was reminiscent of India’s 1-7 loss by the world number one team in their pool match at the Tokyo Olympics last year, and Reid said perhaps they were intimidated by the atmosphere.
The margin would have been worse if it had not been for veteran goalkeeper PR Sreejesh.
“We couldn’t take the pressure off the ball today, we needed to do that. We talk about coming to the front of the day,” Reid said.
“There will always be pressure on a large scale. It never goes away, who knows what the history is, it’s hard to guess. I told him that the most important thing is that we do our best and the result will see for itself. Like I said, we have a lot of work to do.”
Reid, himself an Australian, knows what it takes to beat his country in a big match.
“In the end, it boils down to winning a one-on-one fight and we didn’t win that today. If you want to win the final, this is what you have to do. You have to win every single battle.”
Manpreet’s injury blow
The Aussies fought hard from the start, but India hardly enjoyed possession, which was compounded by the injury of skipper Manpreet Singh.
Manpreet had a clash with Aran Zalevski in the second quarter and was in “pain” as he spoke to the media, clutching his left shoulder.
“I’m going in for an X-ray, but it’s painful and feels like a fracture,” he said.
However, he said that Australia is not invincible.
“I wouldn’t say they are an invincible team. They have XI players as well. We have XI players as well. It is the one who takes advantage of the opportunity and wins the match.
“But we made some mistakes and accepted easy possession today. We need to work on that. If we do our best, we can beat them.
After failing to perform to his potential on Monday, the skipper vowed to make a strong comeback against Australia in the future.
We need to put more pressure on the Australian team in the upcoming tournaments. We will watch these matches and come back strong.
“It was not our A-game today and we kept giving silly goals. We have a lot to learn. Not getting a PC is one of the areas we have to work on, distribute the ball well in the midfield,” he said.
Difficult to swallow for Sreejesh
Goalkeeper Sreejesh said it is difficult for him to miss out on a Commonwealth Games gold medal for the second time in his career.
“We didn’t win the silver medal, we lost the gold. It’s disappointing, but reaching the finals in a tournament like the Commonwealth Games is a great thing.
“As the senior most (in the team), this is my second loss in the final (after 2014), so it’s going to be tough but it will be a great lesson for the youngsters,” he said.
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